Regulating device for electric meters.



R. G. LANPHIER.

REGULATING DEVICE FOR ELBCTRIG METERS.

APPLICATION: FILED DEO.13,1905. I

PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

UNITED STATES UFFIQE.

ROBERT C. LANPHIER, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO SANGAlvIO ELECTRIC GOA'IPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, A.

UURPQRATION or ILLINOIS.

REGULitTlNGi DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC METERS Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4, 1906.

Application filed December 13, 1905. Serial No. 291,649.

To all whom it Wtay concern:

Beit known that 1, ROBERT C. LANPHIER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, county of Sangamon, State of .Illinois, ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Regulating Devices for Electric Meters, of which the following is a full and complete specification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in electrical meters, and particularly to improvements in the electrical meter shown and described by me in my pending application, Serial No. 228,693, filed the 8th day of September, 190a; and its object is to provide a new and improved means for adjusting the inductance of the shunt coil or coilsin an alternating-current mercury motor-meter of this type with respect to a condenser interposed in series with said shunt-coil, so as to bring the phase of the shunt-current into zerophase relation with the impressed electromotive force. In a meter of this type in which a condenser is used in series with the shunt-coil for the purpose of bringing the shunt-current into zero-phase relation with the impressed electromotive force in the manner and for the purpose described in my said application. above referred to in the making of the condensers and the winding of the coils it is practically impossible to have their elec trical constants exactly the same every time. A coil may be some turns more or less than the normal amount, and the condenser may 1 run a little high or low for capacity. Moreover, the magnetic circuit for the meter itself will not be the same for all meters on account of variaton of quality of iron and difi'e rences in air-gaps in the magnetic system. in order to calibrate and adjust the meters quickly and economically, it is necessary, therefore, to have some ready means of adjustment, either in the capacity of the condenser or in the inductance of the shunt-coil. To have means for varying the capacity of the condenser is more expensive and less satisfactory, as it is necessary in such a case to provide the condenser with several taps brought out from it in order to get this variation. This able. I

I have therefore devised a new and improved mechanism for varying the inductance is unsatisfactory and objectionl l l pieces.

of the shunt-coil with respect to the capacity of the condenser, and this is the'object of my invention; I attain this object by means of the mechanism illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter described. 7

That which I believe to be new will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the working parts of my meter, partially in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a section on l ne 2 of Fig. 1, partlybroken away to e);- pose the pole-pieces and the magnetic shunt- Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, showing a modification of the magnetic shunting-pieccs "Referring to the drawings, 4 indicates the casing of the firercury-chamber formed of non-magnetic insulating material and inclosing a circular mercury-chamber 5, in which rotates the disk-armature 6, carried upon a spindle 7. I

8 indicates a brake-disk operated upon by 14 Id indicate laminated polepieces which extend through the bottom of the casing 4 into the mercury-chamber 5.

15 indicates straps which are secured upon each side of the pole-pieces 1-1 14%, as by screws 16. These straps are formed of nonmagnetic material and are provided near their lower ends with slots or enlarged openings 17.

18 indicates a yoke or core which is secured between the lower ends of the straps '15 by means of screws 19, which pass through the .slots 17, by means of which the yoke or core may be adjusted close against or at varying distances away from the lower ends of the pole-pieces 14 14 and secured in the desired position.

20 indicates the shunt energizing-winding wound around the core 18.

21 indicates a condenser in series with the shunt-winding 20 and operating to bring-the phase of theshunt-current into zero-phase relation with the main current passing .through the disk to the translating devices in the mannerdescribed and set torth by me in my said application for Letters Patent.

35 indicates a steelplate set in the casing 4 above the disk-armature 6 and acting as the return-path for. the magnetic lines of force between the poles 1 i- I PJ 22 indicates a plug of iron or steel, which is screwed into the bottom of the casing a and opens into the mercury-chamber 5 to one side of the path of the main current, passing through the disk armature. 23 indicates a magnetic shunting-piece formed of iron or steel and provided with a slot 24:, by means of which it is adjustably mounted upon the pole-piece M by means of a bolt 25'. As is best shown in Fig. 2, the. inner end of magnetic shunting-piece is bent inward to nearly the central line between said pole-piecesl t and 14* and then projects inward along said centralli ne toward the other pole-piece. This is preferably of such length that when the a magnetic shunting-piece 23 is pushed back I 29, adjustably mounted upon its projecting into: the position shown in Fig. 2 it will extend approximately to the center of the distance, between the polepieces. 26 indicates a shLmt-pi-ece ct iron or steel, which, by means of a slot 27 and bolt 28, is secured to the other pole-piece 14;. Its inner end is bent at substantially right angles and outward until it comes in line with the screw-plug 22 and preferably is provided with a band of copper end, so as to be brought closer to or farther away from the plug 22.

Referring to Fig. 3, 3O 31 are magnetic sliunt-ingpieces of iron or steel,which are adjustably mounted, respectively, upon the pole-pieces let and Mi by means of bolts 32 and 33, passing through suitable slots. The inner ends of each of. these magnetic shunting-pieces are bent outward substantially at night angles to face each other and to lie upon each side of the screwplug 22 and preferably are providedwith copper bands 34, adjustable upon the outwardly-extending ends of said shunting-pieces toward and away from the plug 22. It will be readily seen that the. magnetic shunting-piece 23 may beadj-usted with reference to the opposite polepiece by means of the bolt 25 and slot 24, roi: 1

the purposes herei-natter described, andthat the two pieces 30 31 n y be adjusted sons to be nearer to or tartner away from each other for the urposes hereinafter described. .The first a justment ot the inductance of the shunt-coil is made by means of the ad justable yoke or core 18, which, as has been.

pieces. and the adjacent surface of the core or yoke 18 anything tron zero to their'maximum and that the core can be fixed in any positio by the tightening of the screws- 19'.

ass 11 between the pole-pieces and the return-plate are fixed, it is evident that with a given number of turns in the coil a variation in the airgaps between the yoke 18 and the lower ends of the pole-pieces 14 and M will make a great difference in the inductance of the shunt-coil. The preliminary or rough adjustnientof the inductance of the shunt-coil with reference to the capacity of the condenser is made by varying the amount of its air-gaps by adjusting the position of the yoke 18 with reference to the pole-pieces 14 and 14. It will of course be obvious that the increasing of this air-gap decreases the torque of the armature on account of theweakening e'liect on the shuntetield but I have foundin practice that with my second fine and final adjustment, hereinafter described, I. have seldom found it necessary to throw more than a very small amount oi air-gap between the polepieces and the connecting-yoke.

This rough a'd'nsti-nent havin been made a this shunting-piece toward or away from the opposite pole-piece return-path for the magnetic lines of force auxiliary to the path through the return-plate 35 will be formed, which will operate to shunt more or less of \he magnetic lines of force as the shuntingpiece is moved. toward or away from the opposite pole-piece 14:. The reluctance of the magnetic circuit of the shunt-coil 1s decreased when tlus shunting -p1ece-1s moved IOO nea-rr the opposite pole and the inductance oi the coil thereby somewhat increased. If

ihe shunting piece is moved farther away from the opposite pole, the reluctance of the lll dlgl'r'tio circuit in the shunt-coil is thereby increased and the inductance in the coil dec1 eased. This shunting-piece is so arranged a d of such length that when .moved back to its tar best position away from the opposite pole-piece scarcely any magnetic lines of force will pass between its end and: the opposite pole-piece and the inductance of the shunt-coilis affected scarcely at all. As this shunting-piece is moved in, as has been ex.- plained above, the inductance of the shuntcoil will be radually increased. When this is so adjusted as to make the inductance of the coil so related to the condenser as to bring the phase of the shunt-coil into zero relation with the impressed electromotiveforce, the shunting-piece is secured in its position by means of the adjusting-screw. thus seen that the fine and final adjustment of the inductancewithrelation to the capac ity of the condenser to bring the phase of the sh1mt-coil into zero. relation with the im Inasm ch as the gaps in the disk-chamber i pressed electroinotive force afiter the rough 13c adjustment by means of the adjustment of the air-gap above described can be obtained. 1 have found by experience that it is frequently unnecessary to open the air-gap at all, a sullicient adjustment being obtained by the movement of the magnetic shuntingpiece above described. in the modilied form of my device (shown in Fig. 8) the same result is obtained by moving the two magnetic shunting-pieces 30 and 31 toward or away from each other, as the case may be, moving them toward each other having the effect as the moving of the single shunting-piece toward the opposite pole above described and moving them away from each other l'iaving the same cll'ect as moving the single shunting-piece away from the opposite pole, as above described. It is believed that this will be readily understood without further description.

It may be added that by means of the two magnetic shunting-pieces 250 and 31 in Fig. 3 or by means of the single shunting-piece 26 in 2, preferably provided with copper bands shown, the additional function may be obtai red of compensating on a light load by adjustment of the single shunting-piece 26 or the shunting-pieces 30 and 31 toward or away from the metal plug 22. This func tion, howev is in addition to the function already described by me and forms no part of my present invent-ion. It is believed, therefore, that it is unnecessary to fully des ribe it here. it is enough to say that when the tip of either of the two shunting-pieces shown in F 3 or of the single shunting 'iicce shown in Fig. stands near to the iron r steel plug it will cause a certain amount of leakage ma netism to pass between the pole on which the shunting-piece is attached and the iron plug As these shuntingpieces are long and thin, the magnetic force passing through them and into the screw will somewhat in phase from the main magnet-ism of the polepieces. lVhen, therefore,

for the purpose of illustration the piece 26 is moved no close to the screw-' lu 22 there.

will'be two 'lields at an angle with each other and slightly out of phase acting on the armature itself, one being between the upper tip of the screw-plug 22 and the return-plate and the other being between the surface of the pole-pieces and the return-platc This lag in magnetism can be increased by placing the short-circuited copper bands 29 3d around the arms of the shunting-pieces. A compensating torr ue is thus given, opposing any slight static friction which might exist in the bearings of the meter and which would tend to cause it to run slow on a light load.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. in an alternating-current mercury-me ter, the combination with an armature in sc ries with the translating devices, a field-mag net, a snunt energizing-coil, and a condenser n1 series with said shunt energizing-coil, of an adjustable air-gap inthe main magnetic cirter, the combination with the armature in series with the translating devices, a field-magnet, a shunt energizing-coil for the same, and a condenser in series with said shunt energizing-coil, of means for varying the reluctance of the magnetic circuit energized by the shunt winding, substantially as described.

4'. In an alternatingcurrent mercury-meter, the com bination with the armature in series with the translating devices, a field-magnet, a shunt energizing-coil for the same, and a condenser in series with said shunt energizing-coil, of means for introducing a variable leakage-path between the poles of said magnet for the lines of magnetic force to vary the reluctance of the magnetic circuit energized by the said shunt energizing-coil, substan tially as described.

5. In an alternating-current mercury-meter, the combination with the armature, a field-magnet, a shunt energizing-coil, and a condenser in series with said shunt energizing-coil, of an adjustable shunting-piece mounted on one of the poles of said magnet and adapted to be moved toward or away from the other pole, substantially as described.

6. In an alternating-current mercury-meter, the combination with the armature, a field-magnet, a shunt energizing-coil, and a condenser in series with said shunt energizing-coil, of a pair of shunting-pieces mounted on the pole-pieccs of said magnet and adapted to be moved toward or away from one another at their opposing ends, substantially as described.

7. In an alternating-current mercury-me-v ter, the combination with the armatur in series with the translating devices, a magnet composed of two pole-pieces and it connecting-yoke adjustable to vary the extent of the air-gap between said yoke and said polepieces, and a shunt energizingcoil for said magnet, of means for introducing a variable leakage-path for the magnetic lines of force between the poles of said magnet to vary the reluctance of the'magnetic circuit energized by said shunt-coil, substantially as described.

8. In an alternating-current mercury-meter, the combination with the armature in series with the translating devices amagnet composed of two pole-pieces aim it connect- I from me other pole-piece, substantiaily as deing-yoke adjustable to vary the extent of the i scribed. air-gap between Said yoke and said pole pieces, and a shunt energizing-coil for said magnet, of amagnetic shunting-piece mounted upon one of said pole-pieces of the magnet adjustable at its free end toward or away ROBERT C. LANPHIEB.

In presence of BERNARD G. HAYS; EDWARD J. PIERCE. 

